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My digital doesn't actually have a demo...it is just ....digital. No options except reverb and volume adjustment and 2 jacks for output.

Today at my lesson my teacher specifically asked me to play my scales with the acoustic to improve my technique and really hear what I'm doing (we all know that as good as a digital is, it isn't the same sound, nor the same touch as a pure acoustic).....mamma mia....I wonder how well this is going to go over!?

I will be starting on movements 2 and 3 of Gurlitt's Little Suite (the first was not very useful for training purposes) Next week I'll pick another piece and then we'll also pick another sonatina so I'll have 3-4 pieces on the go again. I'm pleased with that plan!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

we should have a thread "Non Achievement of the Week". After six weeks away from lessons for our summer break I returned yesterday to the same old problem. As soon as I sit at my teachers acoustic piano I fall apart and can hardly play a thing. Since I just had a great six weeks practicing and advancing on my own this was a real downer.

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I thought I understood endurance sport; then I took up piano XXXVII-8-XXX

How unfortunate. Any chance of her moving? You moving? Putting up some kind of sound barrier (quilt or something) to muffle the sound from your end? Agreeing to a set of quiet hours and not quiet hours?

She's still at university - in the second half of her 3rd year- she'll probably do at least 2 more years and even then may not move out.I don't think a quilt would help because the sound (from what I understand) goes through the bottom/floor, not from on top or behind

we HAVE agreed to quiet hours. I was playing in "free time". I play Mon-Friday about an hour (usually less) between 1pm and 2pm. I play Monday Thursday and Friday for about an hour somewhere between 6.30 and 7.45pm, We have no set Agreement for Saturday but I still rarely play more than 2 hours in 2 blocks. I don't play on Sunday.

Halfstep, I do have a digital option - but I have to wear headsets and I've been wearing them so much that they are starting to bother my ears. You can see from what I posted above that I really don't play the acoustic very much and it is this Young woman who is being pretty hared to get along with.

Anyway.....rant over, I've just been so fed up I really needed to talk and hear some sympathetic voices. I'm stocked up now and hope to report on a good AOTW later after my lesson.I should be getting started on some new pieces today.

I totally get the difference between the digital and acoustic! At least you have the availability should you have the urge to play randomly. But, I do agree, I'd pick the acoustic 9 times out of 10. Keep your head up and don't let the neighbors get to you!

Cas, I'll send my sister-in-law over. She told me once that she wanted to come over and listen to me practice. I'm sure she had no idea what practicing really sounds like!

hum... obviously, a sizeable chunk of the playing that can be heard by the neighbours should NOT be practising scales and constant repetitions... a little concert of pieces the player already knows well would help them to swallow the actual practice, and please keep it varied...

But really up to 2 hours a day on agreed times and with breaks I think most people can manage. My problem comes with professional musicians or people with nothing else to do who think they can make noise whenever they want for long hours and still live in flats. Oh, and they even expect their neighbours to be "happy and thankful" to hear "music".

I would love to eventually have a grand... but in Spain I will live in a flat. I think that IF by then I have a lot of free time to play for many hours and have gotten so good at piano that I could justify the expense of having a good grand PLUS proper noise insulation, rather than buying one I would simply rent a soundproofed practice space to play one there and have a good digital or silent at my flat.

Anyway... MY achievement of the week.. so far, I can now play "almost" half of the piece I'll be sending for the ABF recital with two hands... still working on tempo and expressions. Hard, because being an easy arrangement I cannot really hear somewhere else how it sounds to compare. But getting there!

casinitaly - so sorry to hear of your neighbour problems. I'm sure this is quite a source of stress for you.

My achievement of the week is that I have identified exactly what cable I need to connect my DP to my computer for the purposes of recording, AND I have bought one.I haven't actually used it yet - you can expect this theme to be milked for a few different AOTW updates :-)

The more I think on this the more I am becoming angry instead of upset. In a way that's good because I am getting over the "oh I feel guilty I'm making noise" concept.....I'm playing so much less than I really could be playing and she is actually starting to harrass ME.

Exactly. She's been unreasonably controlling you for a very long time (IMHO), and now she feels perfectly entitled to do so completely.

Skip talking to her. It's pointless.

Play as much as you want. As her behavior ramps up (or down, depending on one's perspective), call the authorities. Continue to play until they arrive.

No smiley face on this one... I'm being completely serious.

That's my $.02 worth.

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"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF

Very tiny ones for sure. I bought a new 6G card for the Zoom but will not install it until I record for the ABF (or not). The card that came with it will only hold about 8 videos so my practice comes to a halt about 25 minute in. I sure wish I had installed the new card last month. Too techy what with formatting it, downloading the software and setting it up to record. I'm so inept at that sort of stuff I'd never get it done in time and have it work right.

I've worked also on other things (dynamics, expression, rubato, tempo) to keep them correct in this work.I have made good progress with my piece but have mostly concentrated on the last 4 measures of it in practice. I am now able to play them (in fact all of it) with eyes on the music but still stumble on the 8va 2 octave arpeggio in the last measure. It has a count of 2 half notes and I just can't seem to get my hands in position soon enough and still play it smoothly. <sigh> I will continue to work on this measure this week and still hope for the best. Then must face the red dot horror. And it will be a horror experience because I am able to play this correctly and consistently in practice so must keep my frustration beaten down trying to record.

Earlofmar - don't be discouraged!!!! I had a very similar lesson after our summer break too. It is lowering, but you can't let it get to you!!!! Onward and upward.

Half-step, thanks for the encouragement.

evamar - congrats on our progress for your recital piece - I'm looking forward to hearing it! And yes, I have (til this week) practiced my scales with the digital. At my lesson this week my teacher specifically asked me to do them in acoustic mode. I'm only doing them once a day, playing each one twice though....more than that I just can't inflict on anyone. I've started keeping a log of when I play the acoustic and what I play. I do try to be "entertaining" but hey... I'm still learning. I don't have that big a repertoire!

Barbaram - excellent progress on the Moonlight! - and what fun to be sorted out for recording!

TallGuy, what you've suggested is a bit over the top for me...but I'm working hard at finding my balance!

Malkin - we DO have a schedule!!!!! The only day that is random is Saturday (the day she banged on the wall)- and even then I stick to the "not before 10am, not between 2pm and 4pm and not after 7.30pm guidelines). I don't even play in all the times I set as being available for me to do so during the week.

Ragdoll - good luck with the recording - I suggest you get it all set up and tell yourself: I'll do a few practice runs - not for publication , just for me. Chances are if you can convince yourself of that , you'll get a good recording that you'll want to share!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

Cas, I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor. Stories like that always makes me thankful to be able to rent a house. You should probably call the landlord/management office and make it clear to them that you are doing your best to work with the neighbor but she is now escalating the situation. They need to have your complaint(s) on file in case she (or you) end up calling the authorities. Chances are quite good that noise ordinances allow for normal activities, including piano playing, during daytime hours and on weekends.

Earlofmar, try not to feel too discouraged. It's often hard to make that instant transition to playing on the teacher's piano. The action, feel, even the width of the keys can be different. Maybe you could explain your concern to your teacher and tell her that you need a couple of minutes at the start of the lesson to warm up and get the feel of her instrument again. Have an exercise or scales or something that you can play every single lesson; you may want to use the same thing every time you practice. Creating a warm-up ritual habit should help put you into a more relaxed and confident state at the start of each lesson, which can't hurt.

Do I do this? Oh, heck, no ... I just thought of it! But I'm going to try it myself, since I have a similar problem going from my piano to my teacher's piano, even though both instruments are acoustic.

To everyone working on something for the upcoming recital, I look forward to hearing you all play!

My AOTW isn't all that exciting but it's a nice advance for me. Scales are starting to make sense and I'm not struggling as much to remember the accidentals and the fingering. Am working around the circle of fifths, and have gotten up to playing C through B major scales, HT, during practice. Today, I was spending some extra time working HS on E, and when I switched from my left hand to my right, I accidentally started on B instead of E -- and only realized my mistake because of the "extra" sharp. I'd played the B major scale without even realizing it! The sound of the initial note, or my hand position on the keys... whatever it was triggered the correct response, even if it wasn't the scale I meant to play. So, lol, that was a bit of an error (kind of a dopey one) but it highlighted how far I've come in just a few weeks of really focusing on scales for a few minutes a day.

Week 100: The century mark. For the Berklee College Coursera on songwriting, I choose to write a song about pancakes. My critical mind tells me that it is too small a theme, too mundane an idea. My logical mind tells me that it can be a good and interesting song with emotional impact. That doing it can teach me a lot about the craft of songwriting. After turning in my assignment (not a full song, just a skeleton), I also do the peer review. Grading other people's assignments builds insight. I probably have written many more songs than 90% of those that are taking the songwriting course, so hopefully my comments are intelligent and helpful. The other side of that I have never taken a class on songwriting, or music theory before these two Courseras, so who knows how far off the mark I might be with myself as teacher and student?

In the Mozart Coursera, I continue with the lectures, skipping the assignments. I don't like the sound of the Neopolitan chords.

Jumping back to the Bill Hilton video that ATallGuyNH linked last week, I spend some time doing simple improvisations on I VI II V (1625 is the way I remember) in C and then in D. It sure doesn't sound like Mr. Hilton on Youtube, but it almost sounds like music. This is where that perspective of 20 hours for something new helps me. Some might try something new, and find it frustrating, so they give up after 15 minutes. If I keep trying the new thing for 20 hours, it is almost certain to make some sense. (Examples from that article include learning how to shoot a video, intro to yoga, playing the board game Go). If absolutely nothing clicks at a beginner level after 20 hours, then it probably isn't for me.

I upload Tracks in the Snow for the recital and to my piano blog (signature link). I can sort of play verse and chorus on the cover of Colder Weather, but even that much has been a long struggle. I find it embarrassing to be so slow on learning simple pieces (four weeks now?). It is a good thing that before piano I ended up developing some modest aptitude for writing and improvising otherwise I would have virtually nothing to play.

my ATOW is... my wife is super excited to begin her violin lessons, she doesn't know yet but for V-day she's receiving a quite nice violin in case of her favorite color and a good bow. She thinks we will go for violin shopping after she takes her PMP exam in 3 weeks. It will take a huge encouragement from my side to keep her going in the first few months of "abusing kittens sound" :-\

I have listened to all the WLM videos. Phew!. I have set up my first lesson of the year next Monday - tomorrow - better get some more practice in!Glad I don't have to worry about neighbours, just the ' other half' who keeps wandering in. He has no idea of the level of concentration it takes.......

my ATOW is... my wife is super excited to begin her violin lessons, she doesn't know yet but for V-day she's receiving a quite nice violin in case of her favorite color and a good bow. She thinks we will go for violin shopping after she takes her PMP exam in 3 weeks. It will take a huge encouragement from my side to keep her going in the first few months of "abusing kittens sound" :-\

What a wonderful husband you are. No doubt she will be delighted when she sees the violin. I've making crazy cat sound myself. I started violin to keep my husband company when he started viola. I sometimes have to accompany him so that he can get the rhythm. Do you accompany her too?

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

casinitaly, I've been thinking some more about your situation. It makes me feel sad that your joy in playing the piano is being undermined by your neighbour, when it sounds as though you are being very accommodating. It might be a good idea to document your interactions - agreements, complaints, etc - and maybe even keep a log of the time you spend playing your acoustic. It would be a great protection in the event of any escalation.

On to cheerier things!SandTiger, I think pancakes are an excellent subject for a song. You're not writing operatic arias, are you? I have a tougher time imagining a successful aria about pancakes, but I suppose you could just write the lyrics in Italian and I'd be none the wiser:-)

It's a little too soon for me to be back with another AOTW but I am pleased with my success and want to brag. I've successfully hooked up my DP to my computer and made a recording. Nothing I'm willing to upload yet, that will be my next challenge.

I've making crazy cat sound myself. I started violin to keep my husband company when he started viola. I sometimes have to accompany him so that he can get the rhythm. Do you accompany her too?

Yes, I will accompany her. I hope she will keep up with a little bit of piano... but I know at the beginning she would be super excited for that thing with 4 strings. Now I "only" need to find a way to make her eat the pill of music theory and a little of solfeggi just to improve her internal rhythm

My AOTW is getting a recording submitted to the ABF recital....I promised myself no more than six takes and just picked the best. It is a piece from Edward MacDowell's Forgotten Fairytales suite that I worked on last Summer. Although not terribly happy with parts of it, at least I didn't waste too much time obsessing over the red dot.

Then came my frustration of the week. I wanted to take out the dead time at the beginning when I have to walk from the Zoom H-1 on the sofa over to the piano and get started. So I downloaded Audacity, spent quite a while figuring out how to make a simple edit/cut, then find out audacity has converted it to something other than MP3....find the additional software needed, download that.....and it won't work! arrrrghhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Finally said the heck with it after screwing with it unsuccessfully all afternoon.

I managed to get a recording (from the acoustic) for the ABF recital. I am not really thrilled with it. If it were a live recital the performance would suffer throug its flubs and they'd be forgotten, but now their recorded for posterity. sigh. I don't really think I'll get another take in before the deadline - and even if I did manage another session I am too stressed to concentrate properly.

I forget who suggested it (malkin perhaps?) but yes, I am keeping a log of when and what I play on the acoustic because of the young woman downstairs. I've got copies of our emails too should it ever come to anything more than conversation. I don't seriously think it will , but better to be prepared.

I'm really jut working at improving my focus and if she starts up again I will have to just work harder at ignoring her. (and we've got a party this weekend - with musicians We've done it before and we don't play after 9pm....I wonder how she's going to handle it this time.....we shall see!)

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

UKIkarus
Full Member
Registered: 03/05/13
Posts: 341
Loc: England, South East

Originally Posted By: UKIkarus

Piano party at your house?

Originally Posted By: casinitaly

I'm really jut working at improving my focus and if she starts up again I will have to just work harder at ignoring her. (and we've got a party this weekend - with musicians We've done it before and we don't play after 9pm....I wonder how she's going to handle it this time.....we shall see!)

Called it should be interesting to see how that goes, hope nothing too serious gets stirred. Enjoy the party and keep practising, it sounds like you are being fairly reasonable with your requests and playing times and I look forward to hearing the recordings of yourself and others who have submitted

Yeah playing in public is nerve racking!! But it was a lot of fun too...listening to players of all stages (for me lol), learning more about composers and history, as well as meeting other pianists. It was very informal, which was great. There was myself, and another beginner, (who btw didn't want to play at all...the only one too. I felt bad for her.), and then others with 2-25yrs of playing. Inspiring really! And all along too I kept thinking to myself, "now, how long would it take for me to play THAT?!" LOL Overall, a great experience, with a new and better perspective.

Unfortunately, I only got a chance to play my easiest piece, which went great with no mistakes, good timing, and relatively equal key volume. (I need more playing time on his Steinway's 'kinda stiff' to me keys) And it was just plain fantastic to finish the piece! My anxiety was much less lol But as the party was ending, my teacher realized he had only given me the one piece, and apologized as others played 2-3. That was nice of him. Still, I'm a little disappointed I spent all that time practicing to 'perfection' the other two harder pieces....but then again, not really as I'm still very proud of myself for tackling successfully pieces with intervals and sharps for the first time. Tomorrow I'm starting on my first piece with flats...I'll be persistent and can only hope to play of the level and caliber of the guy who's been playing for 25 yrs! wink

So I downloaded Audacity, spent quite a while figuring out how to make a simple edit/cut, then find out audacity has converted it to something other than MP3....find the additional software needed, download that.....and it won't work! arrrrghhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Finally said the heck with it after screwing with it unsuccessfully all afternoon.

Audacity doesn't work natively in mp3 format. You have to import the mp3, edit it all you want, then export it to mp3 (as MaryBee said, there is a LAME plugin for that.)

I do it all the time - once you get used to it, it's super quick and easy. Sometimes I record in WAV so I get raw audio into Audacity and only convert to mp3 for the very final export. Slightly better sound quality that way but I have to remember not to fill up my Zoom H1!

My AOTW is finally uploading the piece for the recital, and with a few days till the deadline!

Not completely happy with it, only a week work with plenty of hesitations and mistakes, but I am ready to turn page and learn something different now. It sounds better live without the stress of recording for strangers, so I'm happy I learned it.

Back to tutor books and a couple of songs I have barely touched for a while!

Cas, I would let her know about the party, but also mentioning that the music will stop playing by 9pm as you 2 had agreed. She has no vote, but I normally told my neighbours about expected noise, simply to let them know that it does have an end time. Enjoy it!

You are very conscious of not disturbing the neighbours and play very reasonable hours, she shouldn't complain. She should call herself lucky of having you as a neighbour, too many musicians in flats are a nightmare to live with. If for any special reason she really needs silence for a short while (recovery from a surgery, impending exam...) she should speak to you and ask nicely for it. Otherwise she should really be able to accommodate a couple hours with breaks. I wish my parent's neighbour only practiced for a couple hours!

Chris, congratulations on your first live recital! You can be very proud of yourself, so early in your learning. And hey, they might not have had the chance to listen to them, but you also know the other 2! It's something special when you listen to better players and see that with perseverance and effort you will play like that one day... just don't focus on those guys with 25 years playing on their backs!

Ataru, maybe you could include a mute in her gift! I was laughing at your comment of her first few months of "abusing kittens sound" Very nice of you to help her with her musical interest.

I always read this thread (it's my favourite) but in this period I don't feel like I can contribute much.Cheryl, I'm sorry to hear that your neighbour is still bothering you even if you two agreed on a schedule and you stick to it.Sand Tiger: congratulations for you 100th week - did you celebrate it?

So my achievement is not piano related but Piano Forums related... after several months I managed to add my personal avatar to my profile. It's quite mundane, but my previous attempts failed miserably.